Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Despite decades of growth, demand for more and faster internet
connections continues to skyrocket. According to Cisco, total internet
traffic for 2016 will exceed a zettabyte. (A one with 21 zeroes behind it.)
That’s enough capacity to stream
approximately 143 billion hours of Netflix video at Ultra HD quality.

Animated map shows the undersea cables that power the internet

Every time you visit a web page or send an email, data is being sent and
received through an intricate cable system that stretches around the
globe.

Since the 1850s, we've been laying cables across oceans to become
better connected.

Today, there are hundreds of thousands of miles of
fiber optic cables constantly transmitting data between nations.

Though demand is concentrated in the most developed countries, much of
the world’s internet growth is driven by globe-spanning enterprises.
Companies such as Facebook, Google, and especially, Netflix are pushing
the limits of how much content can be shuttled around the world each
day.
Though satellite connections also exist,
the vast majority of intercontinental traffic crosses a relatively
small number of undersea cables—the arteries of the global internet.

data : CISCO

The map above, created with data from Telegeography,
shows how those cables have developed since 1990. Most existing cables
were constructed during a period of rapid growth in the mid-2000’s.

This
was followed by a gap of several years during which companies steadily
exhausted the available capacity.

Over the last few years, explosive new
demand, driven by streaming video, has once again jumpstarted the the construction of new cables.

Most cables are laid by consortiums of providers
that work together to fund the projects and to negotiate with the
countries where the cables “land.”
Typically the largest members of
these groups are major internet providers, such as Level 3 and Verizon.

However, according to a Telegeography report
(pdf), many cables under construction today are receiving significant
funding from internet giants Facebook, Google, and Microsoft.
Those
companies now consume so much bandwidth that they require dedicated
connections across the ocean.